Asthma as a variable in a study of immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis.

Fifty patients recruited with ragweed allergic rhinitis were studied. Twenty-three of these patients had asthma. On the basis of cutaneous end point titration to ragweed, patients were randomly assigned to polymerized ragweed (PRW), placebo, or untreated groups. PRW patients received the equivalent of 1200 micrograms AgE in 15 weekly injections. All patients were followed through the ragweed season with daily rhinitis symptom-medication diaries. All patients had determinations of IgE against AgE and total (blocking) antibody to AgE before and after the injection series. In these patients selected for allergic rhinitis, the presence or absence of asthma did not significantly influence rhinitis symptom-medication scores or the values of immunologic parameters. Moreover, whether or not patients had asthma, those who received PRW had an increase in total AgE binding with no increase in IgE-a-AgE and significantly lower rhinitis scores than those who did not.